Japanese Man Gets Arrested For Allegedly Selling Video Game Cheats

Thirty-year old Akihide Yamamoto has been arrested for allegedly selling cheats for online shooter Alliance of Valiant Arms.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan's largest paper, Yamamoto was arrested for suspected violation of Japan's Unfair Competition Prevention Law.

Reports state that Yamamoto, a Himeji City resident, is believed to have apparently sold a hacked character and overpowered weapons to a 40-year-old man in Saitama Prefecture for 20,000 yen ($216).

This isn't a first for Yamamoto, who has also been arrested for using cheats in another game.

Below, via game site Kultur, you can what's apparently Yamamoto's website:

According to Kultur, the site supposedly sold cheat tools for other games besides Alliance of Valiant Arms, including Special Force, Special Force 2 and Dragon Nest.

Authorities allege that Yamamoto made these cheats himself and has been selling them for the past five years to around 500 people, apparently earning 20 million yen ($216,000). As Kultur explains, it seems as people could register on Yamamoto's site for 17,000 yen ($184) and then allegedly download the cheats for 3000 yen ($32).

Last year, Kotaku reported that a group of underage Japanese gamers were hit with criminal charges for allegedly using and distributing cheat tools in the online FPS Sudden Attack.

Originally released on November 27th, 1998 in Japan, the Dreamcast was a shot at redemption after Sega's last console, the Saturn, had a less than stellar time competing with the Playstation and Nintendo 64. Something had to change in order for Sega to keep a horse in the console race. The Dreamcast had it all: incredibly powerful graphics, online capability through dial up, and a playful take on media. Hell, the memory card, also known as the Visual Memory Unit (or VMU) had a screen built into it. Sega was here to play and they did it wonderfully.